U.S, Russian Banks Lose $10m To Hackers

A previously undetected group of Russian-language hackers silently stole nearly $10 million from at least 18 mostly U.S. and Russian banks in recent years by targeting interbank transfer systems, a Moscow-based security firm said on Monday.

Group-IB warned that the attacks, which began 18 months ago and allow money to be robbed from bank automated teller machines (ATMs), appear to be ongoing and that banks in Latin America could be targeted next.

The first attack occurred in the spring of 2016 against First Data’s “STAR” network, the largest U.S. bank transfer messaging system connecting ATMs at more than 5,000 organisations, Group-IB researchers said in a 36-page report.


The firm said it was continuing to investigate a number of incidents where hackers studied how to make money transfers through the SWIFT banking system, while stopping short of saying whether any such attacks had been carried out successfully.

SWIFT said in October that hackers were still targeting its interbank messaging system, but security controls instituted after last year’s $81 million heist at Bangladesh’s central bank had thwarted many of those attempts. (reut.rs/2z1b7Bo)

Group-IB has dubbed the hacker group “MoneyTaker” after the name of software it used to hijack payment orders to then cash out funds through a network of low-level “money mules” who were hired to pick up money from automated teller machines.

The security researchers said they had identified 18 banks who were hit including 15 across 10 states in the United States, two in Russia and one in Britain. Beside banks, financial software firms and one law firm were targeted.

See The Gruesome Reason A Lady Stab Her Step Sister

                                  

A lady reportedly attacked her step-sister in Delta State, simply because she refused to dropout for her own siblings to continue their education.The incident reportedly occurred in Umuseti area of Delta State. Facebook user Oshanor John, who shared the photos wrote;

“see what elder sister done to her younger one just because she refuse to stop school for her children (polygamous family) hmmmm”

See Why Beat FM OAP Gbemi Slam Landlords in Lagos

Nigerian OAP, Gbemi took to Instagram to call out discrimination by Landlords in Lagos over who rents their properties.

The Magazine screenshot the OAP shared, says a particular property is leased to just Indians. Gbemi who got infuriated with this, wrote;

“Broad daylight discrimination in my country . The landlord, the agent & the real estate magazine should be ashamed of themselves !
I’m so appalled by this”

Ikoyi whistle-blower to get N421m this week

               

The whistle-blower that provided information leading to the recovery of the N13bn Ikoyi loot will receive his commission this week, investigations have revealed.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, had two weeks ago said that the Federal Government would pay the sum of N421,330,595 to only one individual identified for providing information that led to the recovery of the alleged stolen funds hidden in a flat at the Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos.

Adeosun had said N421,330,595 would be paid to the legitimate informant.

A senior official in government told our correspondent that a directive for the release of the fund had been issued by Adeosun.

The source said all the administrative procedures needed for the release of the fund had been concluded, noting that before the end of the week, the money would be released.

The source said,

“The money for the payment of the Ikoyi whistle-blower is ready and that money is ready for release this week.

“A directive has already been issued that the money should be released to the whistle-blower and that will be done before the end of the week.”

The Director of Information in the finance ministry, Mr. Salisu Dambatta, could not be reached for comments as calls and a text message sent to him did not go through.

According to the Federal Government’s whistle-blower policy, informants in such cases are eligible to receive between 2.5 per cent and 5 per cent of any recovered money.

Several persons have so far laid claims to providing information that led to the recovery of the huge Ikoyi fund.

SARS Officer Tortures Man To Death In Ondo State [Photo]

Seun Ayoade, 37, was tortured to death by an officer the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Ondo State Police Command, SaharaReporters has learned.

Mr. Ayoade was arrested after SARS officers raided his home in Akure on October 12, 2017, following unfounded reports that he was a member of a robbery gang.

Ojelabi Oladele, a police inspector with the SARS office in Akure, was said to have led the arrest of Mr. Ayoade before placing him in detention and torturing him to death.

Mr. Oladele then dumped Mr. Ayoade’s corpse at the morgue of the Ondo State Specialist Hospital in Akure and lied to attendants that the deceased died as a result of gunshot wound he sustained during a duel with the police.


The deceased, who worked as a trader in his community, had allegedly been friends with Mr. Oladele. The two reportedly had a long-running argument over Gbemisola Okoro, the estranged wife of Mr. Ayoade and a police officer.

On Monday, SaharaReporters contacted Mrs. Okoro, and she confirmed that her estranged husband was tortured and killed by Mr. Oladele at the SARS facility in Akure.

She revealed how the disgruntled officer had been asking her for sex for many years but she rebuked him, which angered Mr. Oladele.

"I can't just imagine how a friend to my man [Mr. Ayoade] will be asking me for sex. It is very disgusting. Many times he [Mr. Oladele] asked me to go out with him, but I  always tell him ‘no' and that I can't do it.

"Because I turned down his offer, he then decided to punish Mr Ayoade by calling him a criminal, hence his arrest and detention at the SARS office. And despite all this, Inspector Oladele is still threatening to deal me just because I refused to allow him to sleep with me.

"They have now killed my husband in their detention center with cooked-up lies that he was an armed robber who died during a gun duel with some police officers,” Mrs. Okoro revealed.

The policewoman further explained how she had been transferred from the Fanibi Police Station in Akure to another police station in Osogbo, Osun State.

Femi Joseph, spokesperson of the Ondo State Police Command, also confirmed the allegation to SaharaReporters on the phone on Monday evening.

Mr. Joseph explained that the case was already being investigated and assured that the officer would face the law if he is found culpable of the allegation.

"The Police Commissioner has ordered full-scale investigations into the ongoing case. Although it is an allegation, a panel has been set up, and investigations have begun to unravel the truth of the matter.

"And if the culprit [officer] is found guilty then he is going to face the prosecution and full wrath of the law," he said.

A human rights activist in the state, Adewumi Owolabi, had already taken up the case and petitioned the police intending to investigate his officers properly.

Source: SaharaReporters

Checkout How Man Sells Daughter, Neighbour’s Child To Raise Funds For Father-In-Law’s Burial

An artisan on Waidi Ogunseye Street, Meiran, Lagos State, Kingsley Oriaku, has owned up to selling one of his five children, a one-and-a-half-year-old girl, Chimamada Oriaku.

He also confessed to kidnapping his neighbour’s seven-year-old son, Gabriel Yanga, barely two months after he moved to the area, adding that he used the N310,000 he realised from the sale of the two children for the burial of his father-in-law.

Punch Metro learnt that the 37-year-old Abia State indigene sold his daughter in September 2017 for N190,000 to the operator of an orphanage home in Aba, Abia State, through a self-acclaimed evangelist, Adaeze Obi.


Two days after selling the daughter, he returned to his Lagos residence and reportedly lured Yanga out of the compound, while her mother was not at home.

He was alleged to have subsequently taken him to Obi in Abia State, who linked him up with one Loveth Nwako.

Nwako was said to have led Kingsley and Yanga to her sister in Anambra State.

The sister, Ngozi, collected the child and gave the artisan N120,000.

A Punch correspondent learnt that the suspects were arrested in November by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Lagos State Command, Ikeja, where Yanga’s parents reported the case.

Kingsley was paraded at the command headquarters in Ikeja on Monday along with two of the accomplices, Nwako and Obi.

                  



He told Punch Metro that he sold the children to raise funds for the burial of his father-in-law in Abia State.

He said, “I am a bricklayer. My father-in-law died and we wanted to do his burial. People that owed me refused to pay me. I was living in Abia State before with my family. In July, I moved down to Lagos. Early in September 2017, I contacted a nurse called Patience that I wanted Chimamada to be at the orphanage for proper care. She works at a hospital where my wife gave birth to Chimamada.

“Patience directed me to the evangelist, who took Chimamada to the orphanage home. I collected N190,000 from the operator of the orphanage home. Two days after, I came back to Lagos and fled with Gabriel (Yanga). I took him to the evangelist on her request and got N120,000. I used the money for my father in-law’s burial.”

He said after much pressure from his wife on the whereabouts of their daughter, he opened up to her, adding that his wife reported him to the police in Abia State.

“We later settled the case and our daughter was recovered from the orphanage. In November, policemen from Lagos came to pick me up in Abia State. Loveth (Nwako) and I led them to recover the boy as well,” he added.

The 38-year-old evangelist, Obi, said she got only N10,000 transport fare from Esther, the orphanage owner, adding that Kingsley lied to her (Obi).

She said, “Patience contacted me. She said Kingsley told her that he had separated from his wife and that no one was taking care of their children. She asked me to direct him to an orphanage where he could take one of the children to. I took Kingsley to the Queen Esther Motherless Baby Home. He told the woman that he was stranded and needed money to pay house rent.

“The woman gave him N190,000 and gave me N10,000 for transport. I did not partake in the transaction. She is a member of my church, Jesus Solution Ministry. I was in Port Harcourt (Rivers State) for a ministry on November 18 when I was arrested.”

Nwako, 49, said, “I attended Adaeze’s ministry. I told her that my elder sister needed somebody to be helping her because of her health condition. When Kingsley brought the boy to her, she called me. Kingsley and I took the boy to my sister in Anambra State. He said he wanted the boy to be taken care of, but he needed N120,000 to pay house rent. I only helped my sister. Her daughter is observing her national youth service in Nasarawa State.”

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, said the case came to the knowledge of the command on October 29, 2017, through Yanga’s mother, Olabisi.

The CP explained that Yanga was recovered at the Ajali village, Anambra State, adding that the suspects would soon be charged to court.

Beyonce poses alongside husband Jay Z on a private jet

Beyonce, 36, and Jay Z, 48, put their love on top in a series of images shared on Instagram Monday night as they posed in the cabin of a private jet.The power couple glared toward the camera like seasoned rockstars just weeks after the rapper admitted to infidelity during a brutally honest interview published in New York Times.

Jay Z looked comfortable in a white sweatshirt and matching pants, with a vibrant orange baseball cap on his head.

Beyonce’s toned and tanned legs were on full display in a pair of thigh-grazing black shorts with pieces of denim fabric dangling against her legs.She tucked a light grey T-shirt with a colorful graphic into the waistband of her shorts, highlighting her slender waistline and perky posterior.

The Crazy In Love songstress tied a long white belt around her hips and wore a plethora of gold accessories around her neck.

Her long blonde hair was worn straight and cascaded down her back nearly touching the tops of her knee-high silver boots.

Beyonce carried a small black and gold purse by her side in addition to carrying her white iPhone in one hand